Welcome To The Animals Blue Planet

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The World's Ugliest Animals

I resisted creating this one for a while because I was thinking it was a bit shallow and that all of God's creatures are beautiful, aren't they? Not really. Anyway, animals don't mind being called ugly, what matters to them is food, sleep and mating, in that order. And when it comes to mating strength and skills usually count for more than beauty.

A newborn hairless aardvark is not so handsome

Newborn aye-ayes are not handsome either so much for the all babies are cute theory

Baird tapir

One blobfish I am not interested in eating

Anglerfish

Elephant seal

The marabou stork with its nearly hairless head, wrinkly skin, ugly throat sack and spindly legs wins the ugliest bird award

Ugliest Bird - Marabou Stork

Frill shark

Naked mole rat

Rodents are not favored for their good looks but this is an extreme case.

Solenodon

Not pretty and the high-pitch screeching doesn't help either

Mexican mole lizard

Star-nosed mole - anything headless with claws is not going to make friends easily

Warthog

And now for a few that are not necessarily from ugly species but are only some of the ugliest representatives from within their species.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Top 10 Pygmy Animals

Why is it that Pygmy creatures are more attractive than full-sized animals? Do they retain some of the tiny new-born charm into adulthood? By nature of being a pygmy they all have that special small but powerful, little-big-guy demeanor. They are all fascinating. Of course, it can be advantageous in the wild to be tiny. Big fat animals must eat a lot to maintain their bodies but the little guy can survive on some smaller dishes. Here is a top 10 list of some of them (more than 10 now).

Pygmy Owl

Within the species of owls there is no shortage of pygmys. There are around 34 species/subspecies although this is not completely agreed upon. About half of those are spread about the Americas. There is also an elf owl.

Pygmy Seahorse

Masters of blending into the reef

The pygmy seahorse is found in the western central Pacific coastal areas, in the south of Japan, Indonesia and northern Australia. It is only about 2.5cm or 1 inch tall. This is a species where the male takes care of the offspring. The male has a pouch and the female comes to deposit her eggs there. Then, the eggs stay in the male’s pouch until hatched.

Pygmy Tarsier

Believed to be extinct for about the last 100 years, the pygmy tarsier was found by accident by scientists in Indonesia in 2000. They don't like baths and don't feed them after midnight. See also Pygmy Tarsier Rediscovered in Indonesia and Tarsiers

Pygmy Elephant

Still a big elephant!, but not quite so big as some of the others.

Pygmy Marmoset

Pygmy Tapir

Pygmy Goat

Never trust a goat. Much less a feisty pygmy goat.

Pygmy Horse

Miniature, Dwarf or Pygmy? This site about Guide Horses for the Blind has some interesting facts about them.

Pygmy Hog

Red River Hogs

The pygmy hog is a wild pig from India that is about 10 inches tall and weighs a little more than 10 lbs. None of the hogs pictured above is a pygmy hog, they were just the ones who showed up on the day of the photo shoot.

Pygmy Possum

Pygmy Hippo

Pygmy Mouse Lemur

Pygmy Chameleon

Bee Hummingbird

Ok, the bee hummingbird isn’t officially labeled a pygmy but it is the world’s smallest bird.
More Hummingbirds

African Pygmy Hedgehog

Pygmy Three-toed Sloth

Sloths

Pygmy Jerboa

This little hopping long-eared pygmy jerboa is from Bluchistan, Pakistan and may be the world's smallest rodent.

Unlikely Animal Friends

This is a look at some unlikely interspecies relationships. How do they meet? Not through the internet. Sometimes zoos and rescue centers need an extra mother for an orphaned young animal. Sometimes well-fed zoo animals are looking for some more playtime pals. And sometimes in the wild, strange things happen.

wiener dog and pelican

dog with red panda cubs

the fox and the hound

giraffe and ostrich

I wouldn't call these two friends, I am sure the horse would rather be somewhere else but circus trainers worldwide manage to pull this one off for certain short lengths of time.